How To Choose the Right Size Rug

 Rules Guidelines for Rug Rage



It can be difficult, to say the least, to select the right size rug for a room; especially if you are trying to follow all of the "rules." How close is too close to the wall? How far is too far from the wall? How many furniture legs should be on the rug? Should ANY furniture legs be on the rug? I believe that the best rule to follow when select a rug and arranging your furniture it to do what feels most natural and pleasing to the eye. That is usually the right choice, unless what is natural and pleasing to your eye always seems to be the wrong choice, which is likely how you ended up here.

To give you some ideas of how to fill a space with a rug I will go over some of the common guidelines. You will have to select what feels right in your space.


1. The rug should generally extend about two feet out from underneath a table.

This is the wrong proportion:

And here is the correct proportion:

Notice how in the second example the chairs can be scooted in and out without bumping over the edge of a rug and it allows for all four legs of the chair to remain on the rug even when a person is occupying the chair.

2. When occupying a hallway the runner should cover most of the walking area

Wrong:

Right:

3. The front legs of a sofa should rest on top of the rug

4. The entire sofa and chairs should rest on the rug

5. The entire sofa should be off the rug

Whew! I'm confused now!!! So, you ask, "How do I know how many legs or if I should even have any legs at all on the rug?" Well, here is generally how I decide what to try first. If it is an ENORMOUS room with a wide visual field I put all legs on the rug and use an additional anchor such as the coffee table to anchor the room. In such a large room I am visually truing to keep pieces from floating away. In a moderately sized room I will put the front legs of the sofa and maybe one leg of a chair. In this case I am usually trying to tie two spaces together yet retain some fluidity to maintain the overall large feel of the entire area. When I leave all legs off the rug it is typically in a small space that I am trying to define. Look here! I'm the living room! And I usually anchor it with a boldly patterned, vibrant rug as a visual anchor for the space.

Good luck! More to come!